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Wall Street Blues: Investors Weather Earnings Misses & Taper Anxiety

Stocks pulled back for the third consecutive day on Wednesday as the relative absence of economic data gave investors more time to worry about the timing of the Federal Reserve’s changes to its fiscal stimulus program.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed beneath the 1,700 watermark it broke July 31, down 0.38 percent to 1,690.91, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.31 percent lower at 15,470.67, and the NASDAQ was 0.32 percent lower, closing at 3,654.

The only major economic news for the day came from the Federal Reserve in the form of the June consumer credit report that showed total credit increasing by $13.8 billion for the period for a total of $2.85 trillion, while analysts had been expecting a larger increase of $15 billion. Meanwhile, revolving credit from credit cards and similar products fell by $2.7 billion, and May’s increase was revised downward by $2 billion to $17.5 billion.

Earnings were also a big part of the picture on Wednesday, as a number of sizeable companies reported mostly disappointing quarterly income for the previously-ended period that held stocks back.

Services stocks took the Dow lower, with Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and The Home Depot Inc. (HD) posting the index’s biggest losses, while on the NASDAQ, tech shares fared poorly, with losses for Zynga (ZNGA) , Blackberry (BBRY) , and Himax Technologies (HIMX) . Solar stocks, led by First Solar, were down nearly across the board as well.

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